Being Friends with Teachers on Facebook

[Royaldada]

Just that really - If one of your DC's teachers was on Facebook would you add them as a friend

I am a teacher and do not use FB at all. When FB started the guidelines were so rigorous it just seem worth it. When I want to see stuff on FB like the parents' forum or family stuff, I just use DS's account

*it just seemed not worth it

I'm fb friends with teachers at dcs primary, I haven't asked the Head as her profile pic is one of those boudoir shots in a corset but she's friends with other parents, they come up on the mutual friends bit. Some of the teachers spell their name backwards but thats the extent of their security...

"And many LEAs advise teachers not to be on Facebook at all"

Well, mine doesn't, and I would ignore them if they did. None of their damn business and I'm not stupid enough to ever post anything incriminating or embarrassing anyway. If other people are daft enough to do so, that's their lookout, frankly,

Hold the phone MidnightVelvet! Do you mean a Headteacher, her fb profile picture is...a boudoir shot wearing a corset! That's comedy effing gold right there. The Daily Fail would be all over that like fake tan on Peter Andre.

Yep Finola, she's lying on the floor on her back looking at the camera in a burgundy corset! It doesn't bother me, its her personal fb, the school has its own account

I wouldn't want to have my DC's teachers or TAs on my FB, my private life is private and I don't want them knowing my business any more than they probably want me knowing their business. It works both ways.

No. Not a chance.

I do have one of the teachers at the school on my GB, but I know her outside of that setting.

Lea who advise against Facebook are daft. That is not doing anything to highlight potential issues. Common sense prevails - advise on how to protect yourself when using ANY social media rather than ban. Banning is rarely an effective measure.

My LEA has no Such recommendation.

I work in a school and have parents and other staff as friends on FB. It's actually really handy to see what parents say amongst themselves and has been helpful many times in knowing the low down when an issue outside of school impacts on the children in the school. Because I have parents on my FB (I happen to be friends with them in RL) I never post or say anything that could cause an issue. I use it more to share local information. The other staff do the same. It's all very 'naice'

I'm a teacher. I'm on FB. I have genuine friends on there only. I've only twice has a parent try to link with me - I spoke to them to explain that it was school policy to not allow it. They understood.

I never post anything about my own work.

It's actually very useful to be a teacher on FB. There are some great groups for ages and subjects, plus it's easy to share ideas and links with colleagues by simply tagging them.

Union advice is don't
This from NASUWT
"Do not under any circumstances accept friend requests from a person you believe to be either a parent or a pupil at your school."

www.nasuwt.org.uk/InformationandAdvice/Professionalissues/SocialNetworking/NASUWT_007513

NUT

"•not befriend pupils or other members of the school community on social networking sites. (You should consider carefully the implications of befriending parents or ex-pupils and let school management know if you decide to do this.)"

So according to the NUT I shouldn't be friends on FB with people I have known as friends or relatives (who happen to be actual friends in RL)

Utter nonsense. What I do in my time is my business. We do have a life outside of school.

Do you know every single person that they are friends with on Facebook? If so you probably have nothing to worry about.
www.teachers.org.uk/files/E-SAFETY-PROTECTING-SCHL-STAFF-OCT10_SL_1.doc

[[https://www.atl.org.uk/Images/adv42-social-networking-sites-nov-13.pdf]

No of course I don't. Some schools I know of actually have their own FB pages for their PTA type organisations which are a good way of keeping people informed.

I don't like being told what to do. Thankfully our school doesn't dictate to us what we can and can't do out of the workplace.

What about teachers who have children at the school they teach in, are they allowed to be friends with their colleagues? Are they allowed to be friends with the parents of their own child's friends?

It's very, very hard to set a blanket policy of not being allowed to be fb friends with ANY parents from the school. Some teachers would then not be able to be friends with their own partner! Even a policy of not friending children at the school means some teachers can't be friends with their own dc. It's far better go have a policy of being sensible with social media and not mentioning school stuff/having privacy settings in place.

Mermaid I agree that a blanket policy doesn't work. Those guidelines are far too nanny-state and the people who write them don't seem to think that staff are able to use common sense and their own discretion.

I'm a GP and I occasionally get contact requests from patients on Facebook or LinkedIn. I would never consider accepting them. Same should go for teachers, family excepted.

I would never accept a request from a random parent of a child at my school, but I do have fb friends that happen to be parents of pupils. It happens because a) a lot of my colleagues have children at our school so they are both teacher and parent, and b) I won't defriend somebody I've known for years purely on the basis that their child now attends my school, that wasn't the original link between us and I don't want to lose the original link. I do however have my priacy settings very high so only my friends see my posts not their friends as well, and I don't post anything about school, ever. If I don't post anything about school, what does it matter that some of my friends have dc at my school? They don't post anything about school either, funnily enough we all have other interests as well.

Bert I would be very interested to hear of which LEAs advise their staff NOT to have a FB account. I believe this is an exaggeration lie on your part!

My LEA advise us to be cautious, have security settings to the maximum and not to accept friend requests from parents.

No LEA can prevent anyone from having a FB account.

I would have been happy to join the conversation. But not now you have accused me of lying. Can't be arsed, frankly.

Never in a million years would I accept/consider parents as friends on FB. This year, though, I've had two requests and messages from parents - including one that sent a video of their child to me.

I did not respond via FB, told my head, changed my FB name and told the parents face to face that I appreciated the messages but was not allowed to have any contact via social network sites.

It also made me feel a little annoyed... I should be allowed to have a private life out of school without parents encroaching on that!